Defeated
by Kamaria31
Summary: Kali's been working for Eggman for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone, or accept help from the ones who really offer it?
1. The Doctor Promised

Title: Defeated

Author: Kamaria31

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it isn't mine.

Summary: Eggman has a new lackey; she's a purple lioness by the name of Kalila, or Kali. She's worked for him for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone? Or seek help from the ones who truly offer it?

Note: Bits and pieces of this were contributed by a friend of mine (love ya, Penguin!) who is the nicest person you'll ever meet, but seriously REPELS punctuation. If I missed anything, notify please! Also feel free to help out with the character's speech patterns. (Heh, I repel those.)

î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î

Ari POV

I had been walking down the street thinking about my best friend, about what she did and wondering why she betrayed me. "Hey, over here!" a voice yelled interrupting my thoughts. I had run over to where the noise had come from and saw none other than Bokkun.

"What, Bokkun?" I asked impatiently. Bokkun had then started to blab about things I didn't care about, so I had snapped, "Cut to the chase, Bokkun!"

"Well I have a message for you" Bokkun had said shyly. I had given Bokkun my glare so he of course had continued with what he had been afraid to say. "This message is from Kali she told me to tell you she only joined because she had to and he promised to find it" Bokkun finished timidly and, like always when he left, dropped a bomb. I saw it and flew away with a look of amusement on my face.

"Messing with Bokkun is so much fun," I laughed as I flew back to my apartment.

…………..

Kali POV

'I DIDN'T BETRAY YOU!!!' I have wanted to scream that at Ari for an entire year, 'He said he could find it.'

"Did Bokkun find her OK?" I asked myself quietly; just then, Bokkun flew in.

"I told her."

"Everything?"

"I think so, it was a long message."

I knew which part he would have forgotten, "Did you tell her where we were landing next?"

"Oops! Sorry Kal."

"DON'T—Oh, never mind, just go tell her."

"OK!" He flew off again making me think, 'I'm waiting twice as long this time, I just know it.'

A few hours later, I had started wandering around the town

"Hello. You would like?" I had chosen this store at random.

"Oh, nothing," I turned around and saw something near the door, 'Ooh, The Doctor's gonna like this, I can even find Chaos Emeralds when I don't mean to!' I looked back at the storekeeper, "On second thought, I rather like that purple jewel."

"No! Is deesplay only!"

"Why?" I said, moving toward it, "I can buy it."

"Do not argue. Is deesplay!"

"Fine, but Dr. Eggman will be the one 'displaying' it from now on," I had been inching toward the gem (and door) through the entire exchange so I grabbed it and ran.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Objective

Tails (Miles) Prower had been walking down the street on his way to visit the crazy Russian Storekeeper. "Move! …Out of my way!" a lavender colored lioness had screeched. The lioness had shoved him to the ground but not before he caught sight of a purple Chaos Emerald.

When Tails got up it took him a minute to register who exactly the girl was and what she had when he realized he said "Oh shiz," Tails had hovered off the ground and flew back to find a member of the team. The first person he came across was Rouge, "Rouge- ROUGE!! I saw Kali, she had a Chaos Emerald, and she went that way!" Tails half screamed, pointing the direction he had come from.

"Ok, I'll go after her. You calm down and find Sonic… or Knuckles." Rouge then flew off the direction Kali had gone while Tails went to find Sonic and Knuckles.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kali POV

"Dr. Eeeeeggmaaaaaaaan~!" I called, "Guess what I foooooooouuuund~!!"

"What??" The doctor snapped, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, well that's nice! You can't even be grateful that I found a Chaos Emerald!"

Eggman's tone and demeanor changed dramatically the instant she said 'Chaos Emerald', "Good job Kalila, You even do your job without prompting, on your own time, Bocoe and Decoe should take notes."

"Err, thanks. …Doctor? When are we going the look for my—"

"All in good time, Kalila."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Objective

"SONIC!! KNUCKLES!!" Tails saw the object of his search up ahead, "GUYS!!"

"What's up, Tails?" Sonic asked, registering his friend's expression.

"Sonic, I saw Kali. I was going to visit the Russian storekeeper and Kali ran past me with a Chaos Emerald!"

"WHAT??" Sonic yelled, and Knuckles looked slightly angry.

"We need to get that Emerald!" Tails concluded. Sonic and Knuckles nodded once as they all turned to get back to the workshop, which held the _X-Tornado_, Tails' plane.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kali POV

I had left the ship again, wandering out of boredom, when I heard something behind me; I was surprised enough that I nearly wheeled around, vaguely recognizing Rouge's scent, I said, "It's too late, Jewel Hunter. I've already given the Emerald to the Doctor."

"That isn't why I'm here."

"Surprising, seeing as according to the Doctor, that's all you can think about."

"Well, I think we both know that Eggman has a bit of a penchant for exaggerating."

I finally decided to turn around, "I guess… But if it's not the gem, why are you here?"

"You joined him for a very good reason, didn't you?" Rouge looked at me expectantly, reminding me strongly of a different bat, Ariala, my first and best friend.

"Yeah… I' looking for a necklace, because it enhances my ability to track."

"You seem to be OK without it, you've found more than a few Chaos Emeralds… even though we got them back."

"If the scent is similar enough to mine, I can't track it without that necklace."

"Why do you need to track your own scent?"

"Not mine, my cous— Why am I telling you? When the doctor helps me find the necklace, I will find Levon on my _own_!!" I yelled. Realizing what I had said, I clapped a hand over my mouth.

"Levon?" Rouge asked interestedly, I shook my head frantically, still covering my mouth.

Finally, I uncovered my mouth, thinking that she'd find out anyway, "Levon is my cousin, that necklace was a gift from him. A black jaguar took great interest in it, her name was Alvah, and we thought she just liked it. We were only half right, apparently, the gem in the pendant enhanced certain powers… like mine, or …_ his_."

"We aren't talking about your cousin anymore, are we?"

I shook my head mutely and returned to the ship.

--------------------

A.N. Yeah, part of why Difference isn't updated... this and Writers Block (icky, ICKY stuff writers block is).


	2. Kali Before

Title: Defeated

Author: Kamaria31

Disclaimer: Kali, Ari, Levon, Camo, Siberius, The Crazy Russian Storekeeper, several robots, the necklace, Nukpana and Alvah are mine. Nothing else.

Summary: Eggman has a new lackey; she's a purple lioness by the name of Kalila, or Kali. She's worked for him for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone? Or seek help from the ones who truly offer it?

Note: Bits and pieces of this were contributed by a friend of mine (love ya, Penguin!) who is the nicest person you'll ever meet, but seriously REPELS punctuation. If I missed anything, notify please! Also feel free to help out with the character's speech patterns. (Heh, I repel those.)

î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î Ari POV

I had been in my apartment for about 3 hours just staring at the TV, as usual there was nothing on. I stopped staring at my TV and started looking around my new redecorated apartment. My living room has cream colored walls, a flat screen TV, a fireplace on the left wall, a pale blue couch with a matching armchair, and a antique coffee table. Then I walked into my kitchen which is just an average black and white kitchen. I decided I was going to go pick up my bedroom and bathroom so I walked into the hallway and past an open window. From outside I heard "ARIALA WHERE ARE YYYYYYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUUUU~??" Someone yelled. I looked out the window and saw Bokkun; I sighed and ran out my front door.

"What Bokkun " I yelled really annoyed.

"Do you live in that building"Bokkun asked.

"Yeah" I answered, "What do you want Bokkun?" I prompted irritably after a moment.

"Well when I gave you a message from Kali I forgot to tell you something"Bokkun said. I groaned and he continued talking "I forgot to tell you today at 3pm the ship is landing 5 miles east of town by the ocean for repairs, and Kali wants you to come to the ship so she can talk to you" Bokkun said, out of breath.

"OK, Bokkun thank you. Tell Kali I will be there." I say shaking my head at Bokkun's forgetfulness.

"Ok! I won't forget" Bokkun says flying away.

'Wow, Bokkun didn't drop a bomb that time'. I shook my head and went back to lock my apartment.

************

**Objective**

"Sorry we couldn't find Kali" Tails said looking down at the ground.

"Hey, Tails, it's not your fault," Amy said trying to cheer up her friend.

"Come on, Tails Cheer up we'll find her and get back that Chaos Emerald" Sonic said putting a hand on Tails Shoulder.

"Ok I will try to track the Chaos Emerald using the one we have" Tails said cheerfully taking the Blue Chaos Emerald out of the_ X-Tornado_.

"That's the spirit Tails!" Amy, said glad her friend cheered up, turning to Sonic, she whispered, "Nice work cheering him up Sonic."

"Thanks Amy," Sonic answered in kind.

*********

**Ari POV**

'OK... Here we are,' I gasped when I saw the ship 'WOW, that's a big ship.' "Kali... You here?" I said loudly walking up onto the platform in front of the big door.

"Yeah."

We talked idly for what seemed (to me) to be about fifteen minutes. Mostly about the time before Levon was kidnapped, laughing at the crazy stunts and rivalry between Siberius and Camo. I finally decided to start in on why I was here, "Kali?"

"Hmm?" She said, still grinning.

"Eggman's lying, you know. He's not going to help save Levon."

The smile slid off her face immediately, "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said, HE. WON'T. REALLY. HELP."

"Ari, he said—"

"Kali, he's _Eggman_. He lies! I bet Rouge and Sonic have been over this and over this with Knuckles."

"DON'T compare me to that gullible, red— RRRGH!"

"Hard not to, you're both headstrong, feel bound to something, and you've both been tricked by Eggman."

"At least I didn't lead Nukpana to my BEST FRIEND'S COUSIN!" Kali screamed, nearly in tears. That sentence felt like a physical attack.

"Kali, you know I didn't—"

"Get out of my cargo hold," Kali muttered, punching the alert button. As the door shut behind her, she whispered to no one in particular, "I want my cousin back."

***********

**Objective**

"Sonic, Knuckles, come here!" Tails called.

"What, Tails?" growled an infuriated looking Knuckles, walking in. Sonic followed closely.

"What's wrong now Knuckles," Tails asked.

"Ask Sonic," Knuckles replied rudely.

"What did you do, Sonic?" Tails said.

"Knuckles is mad because I made him think I wanted to take the Master Emerald" Sonic said.

"Sonic, you promised not to do that again, and Knuckles that was the 45th time this week he did that, can't you just ignore him?" Tails said.

"So... what did you need Tails?" Sonic asked.

"I know where Kali took the Chaos Emerald."

"Where did she take it?" Knuckles asked.

"To Eggman's base, flying over the ocean" Tails replied.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Sonic said already on the wing of the _X-Tornado_.

*************

**Ari POV**

"Man, I hate this, I've been falling for 10 minutes." I said aloud just as I started actually flying. I turned East and started flying back toward the city. About an hour later the city finally is in my sight. "Crap!" I yelled out of frustraion, my left wing had gone numb.I heard an airplane and saw a blue hedgehog on the wing. The hedgehog yelled something to me but I couldn't hear him. Just as I was about to yell something back my other wing went and that was bad for me, because I can't swim.

...............................................

**Kali POV**

_Hmm_. I thought, _The repairs are finished already_? Curiosity had driven out the brunt of my fury, I looked out the nearest window; we were above water, the ocean. I sprinted up to the command center, "Doctor, how long ago did we take off??"

"An hour or so."

I started hyperventilating, gasping out, "Ari!" I ran out to farthest back window, catching sight of a tiny turquoise dot, falling alarmingly fast, "Oh, NO!" I fell to my knees in dumb shock, staring ahead, gaping. "I did that. I just dropped Ariala into the ocean, she can't fly for more than an hour!" Less than a minute later, I heard the easily recognizable engine of the X-Tornado; I stood up and tried to look expressionless, expecting them to turn around. When they did not, I noticed that they were heading straight for Ari.

"Follow them!! Turn around!" I heard the doctor order, I ran back into the command room.

"No, don't! They're going to catch Ariala!" I knew why he wanted to turn around, "They haven't found a Chaos Emerald."

"How do you know that?" The doctor asked, I flicked my tail and pointed to the newest Emerald, which hadn't reacted. Eggman grumbled and we continued on our original course. I left the room and sighed, 'At least he listened.'

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Ari POV

"Kali!" I yelled as I bolted upright.

"Are you ok?" a blue hedgehog asked.

"Who are you?" the red person said rudely.

"I'm not telling you anything about me until I know who you are," I replied to their questions.

"My name is Rouge," the white bat told me, smiling.

"I'm Miles Prower but people call me Tails," the yellow two-tailed fox said cheerfully.

"Oh, wait, never mind. I know who you are, sorry."

"It's fine," Sonic shrugged.

"Can you please tell us what your name is," Tails asked me nicely.

" My name is Ariala, but only bats and my best friends can call me Ari," I said glaring at Knuckles.

"What do you know about Kali?" Sonic asked me.

I eyed the group –mostly Knuckles- warily "Basically, Kali is looking for her cousin Levon, Levon was kidnapped by our enemies last year. Kali only joined Eggman to find her necklace and Levon." I said, my face hardening as I went into the next part of her story "Eggman decided Kali's power could be useful to him, so he told her he could find the necklace," I continued.

"What is Kali's power?" Knuckles asked

"You haven't noticed? It's tracking," Rouge snapped at him.

" Kali is a really good tracker, but she can't track scents similar to hers, and because Levon is family, their scents are similar. So she can't track him without the Necklace. If she had the Necklace she wouldn't be working have been working for Eggman for the past year," I said

"I know some of this but she never told me who kidnapped Levon," Rouge said

"You knew part of this? Why didn't you tell us you talked to Kalila," Knuckles said.

"It slipped my mind," Rouge replied, Knuckles groaned and looked back at me. I glanced over at Tails and could tell he was concerned about Kali, as well as interested in learning more about her.

"That's not the worst part," I said looking at Tails, I turned my gaze to everyone and said, "The worst part is it's my fault that Nukpana and Alvah got Levon."

The group visibly tensed when I said that, obviously unnerved until Tails tentatively asked, "Who are Nukpana and Alvah?"

"Oh, I forgot to explain about them, Nukpana is Kali's and my mortal enemy, Alvah is his is general-slash-assistant. Nukpana has an incredibly dangerous power paired with Kali's necklace he can do nearly anything, Alvah doesn't have a power unless you count agility and devotion to Nukpana," I said "Well, I better get home," I added.

"I'll try to get in touch Ari, see you," Rouge said before flying off.

"Darn! It'll take me hours to get home; I can't fly right now," I muttered under my breath.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked.

"It's just going to take me forever to get home since I can't fly. I can't feel my wings," I answered.

"Isn't that bad?" Tails inquired concernedly.

"No, it happens all the time; my weakness is my weak flying. I can't fly for more than an hour," I told him.

"Ok then the three of us will take you home. Plus, I have a few more questions for you," Tails said.

"Thanks" I said.

::20 minutes later::

"Here we are," I said when we got to my apartment building. We walked up two flights of stairs turned left and I opened room 213. "Just sit on the couch," I told them walking into the kitchen. "You guys want anything to drink," I asked, getting four cups out of the cabinet.

"No thanks," they replied at the same time.

"Ok be out in a minute," I told them putting three of the four cups away, I got my water and went and sat on my armchair. "What did you guys want to ask me," I said after I set my glass on the coffee table.

"How old are you?" Knuckles asked.

"16," I answered, My next sentence earning a glare from Knuckles, "_Real_ questions, anyone?"

"Why did we find you falling over the ocean?" Sonic asked.

"Well Kali invited me over to Eggman's ship when it docked so we could talk, we talked for about an hour and got into an argument, Kali pressed the alarm button and some robots attacked me I used my power to defeat one robot but another robot threw me off the ship, I fell for ten minutes, flew for an hour then blacked out," I told them.

"What is your power?" Knuckles asked.

"I can fly," I said 'I'll tell the truth later'.

"That all?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, I can do a really good spin kick too," I added.

"What is Nukpana's power and how did you meet him?" Tails asked

"I don't remember his power but lets say I faced him alone when he has the necklace his power would kill me faster than if he didn't have the necklace.

"As to how we met him the answer to that question is we met him and Alvah when I was 15 and Kali was 16 it was a couple of weeks after her birthday. Apparently, the necklace is legendary and Nukpana took great interest in it. A few days later they got Levon and the necklace disappeared," I said before taking a sip of my water. "Where's my headband?" I asked.

"I don't know," Sonic answered getting up as he walked over to turn my TV off we heard a snap; I immediately knew what it was.

"SONIC!" I yelled, furious.


	3. Acting Wierd

Title: Defeated

Author: Kamaria31

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it isn't mine. Exept marshmallows… I own ALL MARSHMALLOWS!! *Smacked* Umm… nevermind.

Summary: Eggman has a new lackey; she's a purple lioness by the name of Kalila, or Kali. She's worked for him for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone? Or seek help from the ones who truly offer it?

Note: Bits and pieces of this were contributed by a friend of mine (love ya, Penguin!) who is the nicest person you'll ever meet, but seriously REPELS punctuation. If I missed anything, notify please! Also feel free to help out with the character's speech patterns. (Heh, I repel those.)

î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î Objective POV

"Knuckles, look at her eyes," Sonic whispered to his friend. Knuckles looked and saw Ariala's eyes change from topaz to a dark purple.

"They aren't supposed to look like that, are they?" Knuckles asked.

"No, I think it's a dark form. We need to calm her down," Sonic said quickly.

"Ariala calm down!" Knuckles yelled.

"He. Just. Broke. My. Headband," Ariala said angrily, every word a separate snarl.

"Ariala, it's just a headband! You can either get another… or you probably have more than one so it's no use to get mad over it," Knuckles said. Hearing this calmed Ariala down considerably, after a moment.

"Thanks, Knuckles" Sonic said as they watched Ariala's eyes change back into her normal warm topaz.

************

Ari POV

"Sonic I am so sorry!" I said, tears in my eyes.

"Ariala, it's ok I know what happened," Sonic said. I looked at him confused. "You have a dark form. But you weren't mad enough to change all the way, so only your eyes changed" Sonic told me.

"What color did they change to and what is a Dark Form?" I asked.

"Your eyes changed to a dark purple, and a Dark Form is when your anger changes the way you look and act." Sonic answered.

I sighed and walked over to the window, I looked out and saw Bokkun I turned around and ran outside.

"Hey were are you going" Knuckles yelled and he and the other boys followed.

"Bokkun! Come here," I yelled.

"Hi, Ari!" Bokkun said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Just walking around." Bokkun answered.

"You know Bokkun?" Tails asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, because of Kali," I answered. "Bokkun can you tell Kali…"I stopped in mid sentence, my ears twitching toward something nearly inaudible.

"Ariala what's..."Tails started.

"Shh," I cut him off I was hearing something familiar. "Sonic move please" I whispered. Sonic moved to the left and I gasped when I saw the figure step under a streetlight, it was Alvah. We stood there just staring at each other for a full minute before she winked and ran off. "Bokkun you need to tell Kali this as soon as possible," I said, fear easily heard in my voice. "Tell her I saw Alvah near my apartment," I continued, still with fear in my voice. Bokkun nodded and flew off as fast as he could.

"Ariala, what wrong?" Tails asked when he saw my hands shaking.

"They know where I live; my apartment isn't safe at the moment," I said fearfully.

"You can stay with us," Sonic said, Tails nodded in agreement, Knuckles just stared off in the direction Alvah had gone.

"Thanks just let me pack a backpack then we can go," I said happily. We ran back into my apartment and I packed a few headbands and a few changes of clothes into my backpack, locking my apartment, we left. When we got to where they lived, I met Amy, Cream, and Cheese and repeated Kali's story.

…………

Kali POV

Once Ari was positively safe, I was mad again. Prowling around the base for a few days while the doctor plotted how to get at Sonic next. Finally, "Kalila."

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I think I've narrowed down the location of another Chaos Emerald."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I decided to take a few robots, a first for me. After about an hour (mostly of me trying to avoid where I knew we were going), we arrived at a _building site_. Wandering around I asked my self, "If I was a Chaos Emerald, where would I be?" Normally, I would just track it, but dry air and dust -both of which infallibly cling to building sites- burns my nose, meaning my abilities are hindered.

"Does anyone know where the Chaos Emerald would be?" I heard someone ask, darting behind a machine, I frantically signed for them to hide as well, barely succeeding in time to have a hedgehog, echidna, and fox round into the site, I easily identified Sonic, but the other two's names I had never bothered with. Finally remembering the transmitter clipped to my skirt, I told the robots to stay put unless directly ordered by me to move, that I meant for the newcomers to see me.

I leapt onto a scaffolding, one of many. Diverging from my original plan -not that the drones would know- I jumped in front of them, still angry with Ari but feeling obligated, "Thank you."

"For what?" The echidna -Knuckles- asked, stupefied.

I refused to look at Sonic answering only the fox –Tails- and Knuckles, "Saving Ari."

"Ariala said—"

"Only bats, Bokkun and her best friends can call her that," I said.

"Yeah… but she didn't—"

"Say anything about Bokkun?" Cutting across Tails a second time and still not looking directly at Sonic, "She wouldn't have."

"So why can _you_ call her Ari?" Knuckles demanded.

I smirked, "I find myself in that privileged third group."

"Really?" Tails asked, not out of disbelief, but curiosity.

"Yup," I touched the voice receptor on the transmitter, "But, grateful and appreciative as I am, I reeeeeeeally don't want to get in trouble… do forgive me," I backed up to the machine that my four assisting robots were behind, "Sic'em."

"Woaaaah!" The first robot buzzed Sonic before he reacted to their presence. While the primary colors were distracted, I snuck off to try to find the Emerald.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**Ari POV**

Since arriving at Tails' workshop, I had started testing the limits of my wings. Even though I could force out a few flaps after they went numb, there was no real improvement. I looked around helplessly. An hour after I decided to let my wings rest, I walked into the lab, finally catching sight of Bokkun in the window.

"Bokkun?" I wondered aloud, opening the window for him, then remembered that since Tails was an inventor, most of this was unique, "Before you start _anything_, leave the bag outside. No bombs in here."

He sighed, "OK," darting below the window for a moment and resurfacing, sans messenger bag, "I can't find Kali anywhere. I asked Dr. Eggman, but he just said she was on a mission."

My thoughts immediately darted to the building site Tails had mentioned not an hour before, "I think I know where she might be. You wait… not here, but near here, so I can tell you whether or not to keep looking."

Bokkun nodded, grabbing his bag and zooming off. Feeling was quickly returning to my wings, so I set off in the general direction of the site.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

I got there just as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Kali's robots started tearing into each other, Kali darting off in a completely different direction. I only realized that she had been searching for a Chaos Emerald when she picked up the small red gem. Tails, who had been partly on the sidelines, noticed her, darted over to her, and whacked the Emerald out of her hand with one of his tails.

It landed, somehow unnoticed by the Sonic and Knuckles, a good fifty feet away. Kali took off after it, soon overtaken by an airborne Tails; suddenly seeing her chance, Kali grabbed Tails' ankle and launched herself toward the jewel. I stared at her, dumbfounded, 'Whoa! This is not the Kali I know! She would have never done that before… could the argument in the cargo hold…?' I snapped out of my reverie in time to see Kali launch herself off the ground with the Emerald, only to have her own ankle caught by Knuckles. With Kali roughly hitting the ground, the red gem went flying, Sonic jumped over them all to get it. Knuckles immediately followed Sonic back toward the workshop, but Tails lingered, looking concernedly at Kali, but ultimately deciding to follow his friends.

"Well, that worked," Kali hissed, bitterly, at no one. Abruptly, Kali froze, I knew she'd caught my scent, even with all the dust and the fact that I was sitting on top of an almost skyscraper, an office building. 'Glad to see the Ari sense is still intact.' She slowly looked at the building I was perched on, when our eyes met, hers widened, and then narrowed. She glared icily at me for a moment before she sprinted off towards, I supposed, Eggman's base.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When I got back to the workshop I was greeted by Bokkun, I told him Kali was probably back at Eggman's base by now and he happily flew off.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

**Kali POV**

'Not that I'm keen on getting chewed out by Eggman, but why did Ari need to show up??' I was sprinting back toward the base, not really paying attention, when I smacked headlong into Bokkun, grunting as I hit the ground, I looked at the tiny messenger, "You OK? Sorry, I didn't look."

"It's OK. But I have a really important message," He said distractedly.

I groaned, "Not _now_, Bokkun."

"It's from Ari—"

"Now I really don't want to hear it."

"But Kali! I've been looking for hours!"

"Sorry. I am not contacting her right now."

"Kali—"

"No!" I resumed running, leaving a bemused and desperate Bokkun in my wake.

^^**^^**^^**^^**^^**^^**

About ten minutes later, I was back at the base. I went up to the control room out of habit. The Doctor looked at me expectantly, "Kalila? Did you get the Emerald?"

I shook my head, "Complications arose, ensued… were slightly too much for four robots and a sixteen year old."


	4. Enough of Hedgehogs

Title: Defeated

Author: Kamaria31

Disclaimer: Seriously people, the word "Fanfiction" usually implies that the author doesn't own the Canons… How necessary are these, really?

Summary: Eggman has a new lackey; she's a purple lioness by the name of Kalila, or Kali. She's worked for him for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone? Or seek help from the ones who truly offer it?

Note: Bits and pieces of this were contributed by a friend of mine (love ya, Penguin!) who is the nicest person you'll ever meet, but seriously REPELS punctuation. If I missed anything, notify please! Also feel free to help out with the character's speech patterns. (Heh, I repel those.)

î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î Objective

"Did you notice anything weird about the way Kali acted?" Ariala asked.

Sonic looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"She just wasn't acting right," Ariala turned to Tails, "Normally, she would never do _anything _like just grabbing your ankle. And the fact that she had the robots with her in the first place."

"That's not normally how she acts?" Tails asked.

"No! Have you ever seen her with robots before?" Sonic and Tails shook their heads while Knuckles just listened, "Exactly. What about how aggressive she was? She is _never_ like that."

"She was today," Knuckles said, his expression unreadable, "I did notice something… off. Kalila usually works in the background, no help. She tries to be quick about her business; find, snatch, run. She isn't the type to announce her arrival, or to brag like Eggman."

Tails furrowed his brow, "Why don't you just go talk to her?"

"I wish. She's fit to be tied at the moment, and the last argument we had ended in her sending a bunch of robots at me. And those robots threw me off the ship," Ariala said scathingly.

"Then I'll go talk to her," Sonic said, "I know Eggman. Maybe if I tell her about similar situations…" He shot a glance at Knuckles, "She'll see what's going on."

"Umm, Sonic?" Ariala said quickly, "That's probably not a very good idea."

"Why?"

"Long story, just trust me on this."

"I'm still going to try," Sonic stated optimistically, immediately running off.

Ariala groaned, "Not. Good."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kalila was, yet again, wandering when a blue streak appeared a ways off. Noticing, Kalila halfheartedly sped up, the blur froze abruptly in front of her, "Hi, Kali…la?

"Hello," She said curtly, turning heel.

Sonic didn't move, "Wait a minute!"

Kalila whirled around, snapping, "Oh, I forgot: good_bye_!!"

Sonic materialized in front of her, "What's wrong? I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything."

"I'm just not a hedgehog person," She said, feigning politeness and turning to walk away again.

"What does that mean?" Sonic asked, circling in front of her again.

"Nothing that concerns you," Kalila growled, getting tired of switching direction, she attempted to pass Sonic, only to have him catch her upper arm, "Rrgh, that's IT! I have had ENOUGH of HEDGEHOGS!!"

"WHOA!" Sonic yelled, jumping away from the angry feline as he felt something small and sharp connect with his arm, "Well," He said, dodging her newly revealed claws, "This explains the fingerless gloves… Calm down!"

"Hmph," was the lioness' only response before she bolted off aimlessly.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Sonic returned to the workshop, examining his wrist.

"So?" Tails asked. All eyes were on Sonic as he walked in.

"She scratched me."

Ariala choked on a glass of water, "WHAT??"

"You know, claws?"

"That's why I'm surprised. She _never, ever_ uses her claws, she never even lets anyone see them."

Sonic looked at her with a 'Why me??' expression.

"It's not you personally, she's just anti-hedgehog in general," Ariala said, "In her defense… she does have a good reason."

"What's a good reason for being perpetually angry at all hedgehogs?" asked Rouge, who had arrived just before Sonic returned.

Ari looked down and reluctantly mumbled… something.

"What?" Rouge asked, Ariala's response was incoherent to even Rouge.

"I said: I can't tell you that."

"Why??" Knuckles demanded.

Ariala looked up, launching into her heated reply, "Because it's not my place to tell you! I've given you almost her entire background, as if she wasn't mad at me already, and you're not getting any more- unless you want me to go into detail about the state she went into when we found her house trashed and Levon… gone."

Tails jumped at the severity of what Ariala just said, "We didn't mean—"

"What? To strike a nerve? I grew up with Levon too, Tails. I was hit too."

"You don't seem to be working for Eggman," Knuckles grumbled.

"I would be if I had been there at the time," She said, "Do you know what he told her? He presented it like the only choice! 'You'll be able to look farther, faster,' he said, 'You find me a Chaos Emerald, I'll do everything in my power to find this necklace,' it was less then two weeks after Nukpana kidnapped Levon. She was so desperate she would probably sell her soul for help."

The room was silent, nobody thought even Eggman would play on desperation like that. The silence was shattered by the arrival of a hysterical Bokkun, "ARI!" He cried, "She wouldn't listen! I didn't even get to give her the message!"

"She doesn't care that Ariala saw Alvah at her house??" Knuckles demanded.

Ariala looked at him angrily, eyes flashing with cold fury, "Do you ever listen? I mean REALLY listen? Bokkun _couldn't give her the message_."

"So how—?" Tails started, but was suddenly cut off when Sonic sped off toward where he had seen Kali.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"KALI!" Sonic called to the lioness, a few yards off.

"I thought I scared you off, Hedgehog."

"Don't start that. What Ariala sent Bokkun to tell you is a matter of life and death."

"What do you mean?" Kalila asked in spite of herself, a flicker of alarm surfacing.

"Ariala sent Bokkun to tell you that she saw Alvah at her apartment."

"WHAT??" Kalila ran to where Sonic was, demanding, "Where does she live??"

Sonic didn't ask why she didn't know, he just led the way, stopping every once in a while to let Kalila catch up, a few minutes later they arrived at Ariala's apartment. Sonic indicated the streetlight that Alvah had been under, then finally decided to ask the one question that Ariala refused, "What's wrong with hedgehogs?"

Kalila laughed humorlessly, "Ari didn't tell you? I thought she would have told you everything by now."

"No, she gave an abridged history… and how you met Eggman. She nearly ripped Knuckles apart when he implied that you didn't care about her."

Kali froze, "He. Said. _What_??"

Sonic noticed her tone and quickly tried to explain, "No, he just misheard Bokkun and thought you didn't care about the message."

Kali regained her composure slightly, "So how did she react when you asked for more information?" Kali wasn't really paying attention

"It was along the lines of 'it's not my place' and 'I've told you enough already,' mostly."

"Really?" Kali glanced at Sonic skeptically.

"Yeah."

"Anything else?"

Sonic reluctantly continued, "She said that if we _really_ needed to know more, she would go into detail about the state you went into when L— your cousin went missing."

"Oh," Was her only response as she set about finding Alvah's path, "After you left, she came back and went in a whole slew of different directions, I just need to find the right one."

"But really, Kali. What's wrong with hedgehogs?" Sonic's question went unanswered since Kali bolted off in a random direction.


	5. Following Alvah

Title: Defeated

Author: Kamaria31

Disclaimer: YES!!! IT'S MINE!!! …No it's not, eheheheheh.

Summary: Eggman has a new lackey; she's a purple lioness by the name of Kalila, or Kali. She's worked for him for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone? Or seek help from the ones who truly offer it?

Note: Bits and pieces of this were contributed by a friend of mine (love ya, Penguin!) who is the nicest person you'll ever meet, but seriously REPELS punctuation. If I missed anything, notify please! Also feel free to help out with the character's speech patterns. (Heh, I repel those.)

î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-îKali POV

"But really, Kali. What's wrong with hedgehogs?"

I was about to answer when I found the most recent trail. So, completely disregarding his question, I darted off after Alvah.

"Kali?" He asked, chasing after me, "Kali??"

"WHAT??" I yelled, skidding to a stop.

"What's wrong with hedgehogs?"

"Can this wait, please? I have a lead on a threat to my best friend's life and you're worried about Nukpana's SPECIES!!"

"Nukpana's a hedgehog?" Sonic yelled.

"Yes… well, I actually think he's a hedgechidna, but he introduces himself as 'Nukpana the Hedgehog,' maybe it's more reputable."

"Why do you think—?"

"Suspicious lack of ears."

"Oh-kaaaaaay?" Sonic stared a moment, but I kept following Alvah's scent.

Less then ten minutes later, I ran into a solid wall of air dry enough to burn my nose from fifteen feet away when I breathed as shallowly as possible, "Oh, ew. I hate dry air."

"Why?"

"I have a hypersensitive nose, being a tracker. Things like dust and dry air are my utmost pet peeves, they burn my nose like you wouldn't believe."

"Oh."

"Well, I'm going back to Eggy-boy, I've been 'wandering' a bit longer than normal… It's gonna take me HOURS to figure my way back," I sighed, looking back the way we came.

"Kali? Fastest being on the planet."

I caught on immediately, "Ab. So. Lute. Ly. Not."

"Fine, take your time," He said, looking at me expectantly. I huffed defiantly and turned to walk back.

I hadn't gotten two steps before Sonic picked me up and ran all the way to the spot where he gave me Ari's message, honestly the scariest experience of my life. I glared as best I could, "That… was NOT… funny. NEVER EVER do that again."

Sonic shrugged, "You're welcome."

I glowered at the afterimage until the bright blue line faded from view, turning to storm back to the base, I growled, "Stupid hedgehogs."

"Hi, Kali," Bokkun said brightly upon my return, "Can I tell you that message now?"

"Oh!" I jumped and looked at him apologetically, "After the first time you tried… Ari might have gotten impatient and sent Sonic after me. I already have the message, Bokkun. I'm sorry."

He sniffled a bit, "O-OK. … Can I say it anyway? So I can still say I've delivered every message successfully?"

I grinned, "Sure," then remembered the content a moment too late.

"Ari sent me to say that she saw Al…vah near her apartment," A cold stab of fury went through me, the warm grin at Bokkun's antics disappearing, "Kali?"

"Nothing, Bokkun. Alvah has a bit of a… history… with Ari and I," I said, reassuring the little robot.

"What does that mean?" Bokkun asked

"Do you remember when I first got here?"

"Yeah why?"

"The story I told you about two weeks later. Alvah's the jaguar."

Bokkun's eyes widened, "Oh… Kali, are you OK?"

I had stumbled a bit, "Tired, scared, annoyed… I'm going to bed."

"Why are you scared and annoyed?" The little bot asked, following me through the mazelike halls.

"Scared because Alvah has made an appearance, annoyed by our favorite blue friend."

Bokkun frowned, "What did he do?"

"As I said, he gave me the message. He then led me to where Ari lived so I could follow Alvah's scent; I was paying attention to the destination, not the path… meaning I had no idea how I was going to get back. Well, I followed the scent for about ten minutes, finally running into a solid wall of dry, dry air," I made a face as I said that, "I stopped short, when Sonic asked why, I told him and turned to go."

"OK?" Bokkun prompted, for I had paused.

"I started complaining about how long it was going to take to get back. He then cryptically offered to carry me. I refused."

"But it _didn't_ take you very long to get back."

"_He carried me anyway,_" I hissed.

"Oh, OK… You know we've been standing outside your door for at least five minutes?"

I looked between Bokkun and the door around eight times, and finally started giggling hysterically. Bokkun looked at me concernedly, opened my door and set about shoving me inside; once he succeeded he pulled me over to my bed, nearly falling onto it himself. I was still snickering when he left.

Objective

Sonic returned to the workshop, where everyone was still waiting, "Message delivered."

"And?" Ariala prompted anxiously.

"You should have seen her react, her fur stood on end and she looked ready to kill."

"Yeah," The sea green bat nodded sadly, "That's kinda what saying either name does to her."

"Really?" Tails asked, "They're that bad?"

"They kidnapped her COUSIN!" Ariala exclaimed shrilly, "Of course they are!"

"Can I tell you the rest now?" Sonic asked impatiently, when the others nodded he told them the same story that Kalila told Bokkun, but in a slightly different light when they got to the part after they found the dry zone, finishing with, "I'm surprised the claws didn't come out… I think I shocked her."

"I highly doubt you _warned_ her, Sonic. It was probably more along the lines of you made a cryptic offer, she refused, turned to go, and you snuck up on her and carried her back anyway," Ari said skeptically

"H-how'd you—?"

"I grew up with her, Sonic," I replied patiently.

Rouge looked to Sonic, "Did you figure out the problem with hedgehogs?"

"Yeah," He answered solemnly, "Nukpana's a hedgehog."

Rouge looked slightly shocked, "That explains why the claws came out."

Amy walked in when Rouge said that, "What was that about claws?"

Knuckles spoke before thinking, "Kalila clawed Sonic's arm."

"WHAT??" The hammer was out, "Why??"

Ariala was quick to try and placate her, "Don't overreact, Amy! Kali plus unexpected hedgehog equals instinctual claws; she probably doesn't even know she used them!"

"Why would she pull out the claws on any hedgehog?"

"Nukpana's a hedgehog."

Amy's hammer disappeared as she took in Ariala's words, "Oh. She still shouldn't have clawed Sonic."

"Amy, she wasn't mauling me, she smacked my arm and her claws were out. I've had paper cuts worse then this."

*********

O.o Kali went a bit loopy there, didn't she? Oh well, she has good reason; Chapters 4 & 5 happened on the same day. Poor Bokkun had to deal with a completely delirious Kali. …SOMEBODY HELP ME WRITE SONIC'S SPEECH!!! (And everyone else for that matter) I CAN'T DO SPEECH PATTERNS!! THEY ALL END UP TALKING LIKE ME! 


	6. Real Help?

Title: Defeated

Author: Kamaria31

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Kali, Ari, Levon, Camo, Siberius, several Robots, the necklace, Nukpana, and Alvah would all be canon. This wouldn't be here.

Summary: Eggman has a new lackey; she's a purple lioness by the name of Kalila, or Kali. She's worked for him for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone? Or seek help from the ones who truly offer it?

Note: Bits and pieces of this were contributed by a friend of mine (love ya, Penguin!) who is the nicest person you'll ever meet, but seriously REPELS punctuation. If I missed anything, notify please! Also feel free to help out with the character's speech patterns. (Heh, I repel those.)

**î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î-î**

**Kali POV**

I awoke to my wrist contactor beeping furiously, "OK, listen," She said tiredly, "I, sir, am NOT a robot. Therefore, sleep is necessary. Deal with it."

"Kalila, this signal is three Chaos Emeralds at once! UP! NOW!"

"Doctor, you sent me on a mission for one yesterday. Look at the state I ended up in. _How_ will a search for THREE end well?"

"You have a point… I'll send more robots with you."

"I don't need hapless machinery. I. Need. Sleep. Go away."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

One hour later, I was tracking the jewels, flanked by twelve robots and mentally cursing the doctor. _This better be a fricking nab-and-run. If there's another fight, I'm giving them the Emeralds and leaving,_ I thought sardonically. We eventually arrived at a small pond where I noticed Knuckles rooting around through different parts of the treeline. Motioning the robots to hide, I silently made my way over to the echidna, waited until he had his head under a branch and, "OI!"

"Yaah!!" Knuckles' head made a satisfying _thunk _on the wood, he whirled around rubbing the back of his head, "What was THAT??"

"That," I said, smirking, "Was amusing beyond belief."

"Rrg," He glared at me for a moment, "What are you doing here?"

I yawned before answering, "My very annoying and sleep depriving job."

"You do know he isn't really gong to help you, right?"

I stiffened, _Eggman's lying, you know. He's not really going to help save Levon._ Knuckle's words were reminding me of events in weeks past.

"He's tricked me before."

_I bet Rouge and Sonic have been over this and over this with Knuckles._

"STOP!" I screamed, "She sent you! To try and convince me!"

I roared incoherently after the last accusation, covering my ears and rushing aimlessly away.

"Kalila!" Knuckles called after me, "If you can't figure out who's really going to help, you'll never be able to save Levon."

I stopped short, staring straight ahead, "… Levon."

I heard Knuckles approach and pause as I fell to my knees. He sighed and ran off as I just repeated what he said, over and over, under my breath.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I was halfway to the base before I remembered the robots, I sent them a 'return' command with details that it was a fake signal.

"Kalila, the Emerald…s?" The doctor asked, the expectant look dropped as he read _my_ expression.

"Fake signal. No damage. I forgot about the robots, they'll be here soon," I snarled, "NOW can I sleep?" I stormed out without an answer, up to my room.

"Kali?" Bokkun asked as I stalked past him, "Kali?"

"Not now, Bokkun. I want sleep."

"…OK," He stayed still for a moment, but couldn't contain his curiosity, "What's wrong?"

"I'm EXHAUSTED! … Sorry Bokkun, but I am. And Sonic and friends have figured out how to fake Chaos Signatures."

"Really??" Bokkun's eyes widened, "Wow."

I actually shut off the contactor before collapsing on my bed, muttering dejectedly, "When I say 'leave me alone'…"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ari POV

"Mission accomplished," Knuckled stated, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.

"What happened?" I asked, and knowing Kali, it couldn't be too bad. But considering her recent behavior…

"She snuck up on me," he answered gruffly.

"You jumped and hit your head on something," He opened his mouth to answer and I continued quickly, "Yes, she probably waited 'til you would hit your head. ...No, I'm not psychic, I just know Kali that well."

"I told her that if she can't figure out who was really going to help her, she'd never save Levon."

I sputtered incoherently for a moment, before gasping out, "WHAT?? What did she say?"

"She was running away when I said it. She stopped dead, muttered his name and fell to her knees. I went closer and she was just repeating what I said over and over."

My eyes widened as I looked at the echidna hopefully, "I think that means it worked."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Six hours later, I returned, temporarily, to my apartment. I had only returned when something caught my eye. Just a piece of paper, lying out; I went over to investigate and it was revealed to be a note from Kali. And it was written very formally… which wasn't her style. _Ariala, _just the fact that Kali used my full name sent up red flags, _I followed Alvah's scent until I came to a wall (for lack of a better term) of incredibly dry air. When I delivered this the scent wasn't renewed. I now have a lead on Levon, but I won't use it if it threatens your safety. I did in fact manage to figure my way to your apartment by myself… that surprised me. I thought I'd have to ask Bokkun. _This made me smile as I finished, 'Kali and her sucky sense of direction…' I reread the part about Levon and scowled, turning back toward the door I set off to the workshop.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kali POV

'I can't believe I figured out the way to Ari's and back within three hours!' I thought, amazed that I hadn't needed my gift.

"Kalila!" The doctor called, I groaned as I made my way to the control room, cursing my decision to even turn the contactor back on.

"Yes, doctor? No more Emerald hunts please."

"No, I need you to take a message to Sonic and his friends."

"Isn't that Bokkun's job?"

"Not this time," He said, waving me out the door.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tails was outside when I arrived, he saw me and tensed up, "Kali? Wha— How did you find your way here?"

I shrugged, "Meh, I asked Bokkun."

"So…" Tails started, "Why are you here?"

"I have two messages. One from me, one from Eggy-b— I mean Dr. Eggman," Tails looked at me expectantly, "OK, my message is that _I hate my job_. His… he was muttering about a gigantic robot powered by the Emeralds. I didn't catch specific words."

The rest of them had all come outside, Ari was standing next to Rouge holding a piece of paper. I looked at her for a moment and turned my head pointedly.

"OK… We're all going inside now," Rouge said, grabbing Knuckles and Sonic, who looked the most interested, "Come on, Tails, Amy!"

Amy darted inside after Rouge and Tails followed reluctantly. When the door closed, I, without turning my head, addressed Ari, "You have the note, meaning you've been to your apartment… today."

"Yeah… Kali?"

"Hmph."

"Go after her. You have waited a year to find Levon. Are you going to stop because Alvah is stalking me? …Again?"

"Again? It was Nukpana last time."

"EXACTLY! It's only Alvah this time around, so we have _nothing_ to worry about," Ari said cheerily.

That statement shocked me enough to make me actually look directly at her, staring at her incredulously for a moment, before striding over and shaking her shoulders, "ARE YOU NUTS? NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT?? WHAT HAS THIS PLACE DONE TO YOU??"

"Kali, STOP!" She yelled back, I let go and she continued, "No, I'm not crazy, brainwashed, or suicidal. I want you to fulfill your goal. So stop worrying about me and find your cousin!"

I shifted my gaze to the ground, "I can't. Not yet."

"Why?" Ari asked, surprised by my reaction.

"Because of last time."

She sounded bewildered when she responded, "What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember a month or so after I joined Eggman? Before we came to this side of Mobius? I disappeared and not even Eggman could find or contact me?"

Ari nodded.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Flashback

"Ah, Kalila. You are so wonderfully determined," Nukpana crooned menacingly, kneeling to inspect my hunched form. Once he was close enough, my clawed hand shot from its position on my stomach, the beige hedgehog easily evaded it easily, laughing quietly at my pitiful attack, "You _are _entertaining. But I guess you've run your course."

"No!" I gasped as I felt the moisture drain out of me, bit by bit, the feeling was like a quick-forming sunburn, getting worse by the second. Nukpana was interrupted with the arrival of a guard, pulling Levon by the arm, "Levon, stop him!" I managed in a whisper.

"Nukpana, sir," The guard said in a clipped tone, "He said he wants to talk to you."

Nukpana looked at my cousin in an almost bored manner, "One moment, Levon. I'm dealing with your precious cousin."

"NUKPANA, STOP!" Levon roared, "Let her go, and I'll tell you the entire history and all I know about the power of the necklace."

"She may go," He said, striding to the other side of the room.

"Give it back, first," Levon said, looking at me.

"What, pray tell, am I returning?"

"THE MOISTURE YOU TOOK!" Levon yelled.

"Tsk, tsk. Are you really in the position to make demands, Levon?"

"Yes, I am," Levon said, slightly calmer, "I'm the one with the information. Now return the moisture!"

Nukpana turned to me and reversed the effect of his power, I relaxed as I was quickly rehydrated, "Now," Nukpana ordered, "Leave."

Even though my condition was slightly improved, I still struggled to speak clearly "I can't… move… give me an… hour or so."

Nukpana activated something on the wall, "No guards between the entrance and room L1-33 for two hours."

End Flashback

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I managed to struggle my way out, and Bokkun found me a few hours later. He's the only being besides Levon, and now you to know of the REAL reason for my disappearance."

"You told _Bokkun_, but not me?" she asked, obviously trying to guide the conversation away from Nukpana.

"He found me. I had to tell him what happened so he could get help," I justified, "Now, to a rather… _pressing_ complaint of mine. Sending random other people to try and twist my mind into joining you."

Ari jumped at the accusation, "I didn't know Knuckles was going to say that. I wouldn't have asked him to say anything like that, no matter how right I know— I mean, think I am."

"Ari… he has the technology—"

"To find the necklace? Tails could _easily _make it if we asked. Lack the numbers to even make a dent? With Son—"

"_No hedgehogs,_" I growled, cutting her off.

Ari sighed, "Get over the full species prejudice. The only hedgehog you've ever met was Nukpana."

"Exactly. Of course I'm going to be leery of hedgehogs," I said, relying on my what-seemed-to-be-infallible logic.

"Yes, but Kali," Ari said patiently, "You're crossing from caution to paranoia."

"Really? How?" I asked dryly, waiting for a feeble, explainable reason.

"Did you realize that you had your claws out when Sonic went to talk to you?"

"… I. Had. WHAT. Out?" I asked, through gritted teeth.

"Your claws. If you want proof, I'm sure he can show you his arm," Ari answered matter-of-factly.

"I… I just smacked him."

"He's a hedgehog. He did something you didn't expect. Instinct kicked in, it's all good."

I raised an eyebrow, "With you, or him?"

Ari blinked once, "Actually, he really only seemed surprised that you had claws, not that they were implemented on him."

"Meaning he's not at all put off?"

"Yeah. Pretty much," She shrugged, "You hungry? It's all pretty fun if you ignore Knuckles."

"Why would I need to ignore Knuckles?"

"He glares. At everyone. Especially the newest… um… 'acquaintances'?"

"Meaning you."

"Yeah. Pretty much."

I grinned, "You've said that twice now."

She mirrored me, "That's 'cause it worked."

"You really think they'll let me come in?"

She shrugged, "They're a pretty accepting bunch, I fit in without much of a problem."

I groaned, "You aren't working for Eggman."

"You don't have to be," Ari countered, "Don't use technology as an excuse, Tails is as smart, and wiser than, Eggman will ever be. Are you buying time? They can do that too."

Rouge seemingly materialized next to me, "Don't make offers," she smirked and turned to me, noticing my expression, "That's my job."

The apprehension melted, I sighed and looked at Ari, whose expression was completely identical.

"WHAT??" I lifted my wrist, looking at the contactor, "Oh, _come_ on!!"

Rouge waved me off, I walked to a nearby tree, leaning on it and activating my contactor, Eggman's voice came through, "Kalila? The message."

"They reacted with something along the lines of 'go figure' looks," I said, "Anywhos, I'm going off on my own. Refuse to let me, and I'll just hang up and do it anyway. OK?"

"You wander off anyway, why warn me this time?"

"Because Bokkun's coming with me."

I heard Bokkun's voice in the background, "Kali? Where?"

"You'll see, meet me about halfway between the ship and Tails' workshop."


	7. The Weak Link

Title: Defeated

Author: Kamaria31

Disclaimer: How necessary are these? Really? It's on , so obviously I don't own ANYTHING but Kali, Ari, Levon, Nukpana, Alvah, Siberius, Camo, several robots, the necklace and Nukkie's base.

Summary: Eggman has a new lackey; she's a purple lioness by the name of Kalila, or Kali. She's worked for him for a year, seemingly loyal. But when her own foes turn up and offer her the opportunity she needs to save a VERY important person, will she try to go it alone? Or seek help from the ones who truly offer it?

Note: Bits and pieces of this were contributed by a friend of mine (love ya, Penguin!) who is the nicest person you'll ever meet, but seriously REPELS punctuation. If I missed anything, notify please! Also feel free to help out with the character's speech patterns. (Heh, I repel those.)

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Kali POV

I got to the halfway point between the workshop and the ship, grinning when I saw an anxious Bokkun floating around in circles. I grabbed one of the straps on his messenger bag and towed him all the way back without a word. I stopped in front of Ari, "All present and accounted for."

"OK. Hi, Bokkun."

Tails came outside, looking curiously at Bokkun, "Why is Bokkun here?"

"Because he can," Kali said simply, turning imperiously to Bokkun, "They have offered to help me find Levon."

The robot's face lit up, "Really? That means you'll actually find him!"

Kali looked at him, flabbergasted, "YOU don't even think he'd help?"

He shrugged, "I think he'd get around to it eventually… but it's not much of a priority. And I may not like them, but these guys are your best bet."

Sonic, Rouge, Knuckles, Amy (all of whom had followed Tails outside) and Tails stared at Bokkun like he had sprouted another head, Ari, who had seen her share of Bokkun's 'Wise Moments' just nodded, "Now you've heard it from someone loyal to Eggman."

I looked at her coolly, "And?"

"GET A CLUE, KALILA!!" She shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth.

My ear twitched violently, "Owww, OK, OK. You can help better, I get it!"

"Do you?" Knuckles asked quietly. I took Bokkun's bag; we didn't need a bomb-happy robot loose in an inventor's house.

I strode past him with the bag, "I mean what I say, O Earless One."

I found a good spot for safekeeping the messenger bag, a small hollow at the base of a tree. Turning around, I noticed a weird look on Ari's face; like she was arguing with herself, she looked straight at me, "Everything you say?"

"Pretty much, why?"

"Nothing… Kali?"

"Hmm?"

She raised an eyebrow, "You're dead on your feet. We're going inside. Now."

I looked at Knuckles, "See what I meant about sleep depriving?" My contactor started beeping, "Dude, it's been TEN MINUTES! What could he want?"

The doctor's voice came over the contactor as I accepted the link, "I didn't ask _why_ you were taking this time to wander."

"I'm finding my cousin."

"Really. How long might this take?" He inquired boredly.

"At _least_ a week," I answered quickly, disconnecting before he could respond, muttering to the deactivated machine, "quite probably more."

Bokkun looked at me easily, "Doctor Eggman's gonna be mad at you."

I shrugged, "He should be used to it by now. I never wait for an answer."

"Well yeah, but you said you'd be gone for more then a week."

I smirked, "Not only that, you'll be gone for more then a week."

"He doesn't care if _I_ go missing…"

"Maybe not, but I have a question. Out of _every_ person I've met after coming to this side of Mobius, who do think is my favorite?"

Bokkun pointed sadly at Rouge, "Her."

I smirked, "No, she's second. My favorite person from this side of Mobius is so obviously you… It's not even funny. Bokkun, you knew everything about me within three weeks. And you are the first person to know why I disappeared before we actually got to this side of Mobius."

His face brightened considerably and as he bounced around in midair, Rouge looked at me quizzically, "Why am I in the favorites?"

"I don't really know… You're just cool like that I guess," I shrugged, swaying slightly, "Ari's right, I'm on the verge of collapsing. Again."

Sonic looked at me, "Again?"

"Twice yesterday, I was completely delirious," Bokkun jumped when I said this and set about dragging me inside.

"Need some help?" Ari asked, shoving me into the house, as I feebly protested about being fully capable of moving on my own.

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Objective

Six hours later, Kalila was up again, wandering around the workshop/home/base, Bokkun in tow. Stopping short outside the door to the workshop, she heard a discussion inside, and Knuckles was speaking, "You really think she's only with Eggman for convenience?"

"Yes," She paused when Kalila made a slight sound, that only bats could hear, "And, _I_ need to _know_ if _you're_ going to accept that she is _there_, with Eggman, and that _Kali_ is still not an enemy."

She relaxed slightly; the fact that Ariala used code instead of calling Kalila out directly meant that she wouldn't. Sonic spoke next, "Knuckles, you're acting like you think she's just going to walk out with the Chaos Emeralds."

"You never know. Ariala said she's been acting weird, and I noticed it too."

Ariala spoke up before Sonic could react, "It was only because of that argument we had in the cargo hold, paired with lack of progress… Say you the Master Emerald was stolen. By someone more competent then Eggman; a year later, you had made no progress finding it whatsoever. Then you have some HUGE fallout with… Let's say… Sonic. Wouldn't you be acting weird?"

"He'd probably blame me," Sonic said straightforwardly, not bothered by the idea.

Ariala paused, "… OK, now we're getting scarily close to the content of the real argument. Let's stick with the theoretical, shall we?"

Stunned silence greeted her words, Tails broke the moment with a soft question, "She blamed you?"

"_I_ blamed me, Tails. I led Nukpana straight to Levon. I spent a month thinking I was worse then Nukpana," She said quietly.

"How could you be worse?" Knuckles asked, surprised.

"A week later, Nukpana caught up with me again and _thanked _me, he said he couldn't have done it without me. I was the weak link."

Kalila had had enough, she burst in, grabbing her friend and looking at the others, "One moment, boys."

Kalila dragged the bat clear to the other end of the building, when they stopped, Ariala looked up, "What?"

"He came BACK?? Why didn't you beat him into next week? You're the one with the black belt!! … Or whatever a ninja has."

"Because I _froze_. How would you have reacted?" Kalila answered by unsheathing he claws, and Ariala continued, "Fair point. As well as proving me right. I _was_ the weak link."

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, _no_, wrong answer but thanks for playing. You just got the bigger, smarter threat."

Ariala opened her mouth, but no sound came out. This happened twice more before she settled on, "Discussion over?"

"Yes. I'm going outside for a while."

Ariala walked back toward the workshop, Kalila went the opposite direction. She had walked for no more than twenty minutes before finding herself pinned by the throat to a tree, "Don't even try the claws, princess. I have them too."


End file.
